Immunity for respiratory virusesThe aim of the project is to develop novel strategies to induce and monitor the humoral and cellular immunity that protects the host from respiratory virus infections.

Respiratory viruses are the cause of a large burden of disease in humans and although effective vaccines exist to protect against seasonal influenza, no vaccines are currently available for other important human respiratory viral diseases such as avian influenza, pandemic influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection.

Background

An inflammation reaction is an attempt of the body to remove harmful stimuli such as damaged cells, irritants, viruses, bacteria or infectious agents. It should not be confused with infection, because an infection is caused by an external infectious agent whereas inflammation is the reaction against such agents. The symptoms of inflammation include redness, swelling, pain, fever, chills and fatigue. During an inflammation reaction, white blood cells are sent to the irritated areas in order to cleanse. Chemicals from the white blood cells are released to increase the blood flow, and thus these white blood cells, to the area. This blood flow results in the redness and warmth of the affected area. The inflammation can affect tissue, joints, but also organs. Diseases associated with inflammation are for example rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, but also auto immune diseases. In this latter disease the body is triggered to use inflammation to attack foreign ‘intruders’ while in fact there are none. An overactive immune system thus causes the body to attack its own cells. Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common form of inflammatory disease, with 150.00 patients in the Netherlands in 2003 and inflammatory bowel disease makes a good second with approximately 35.000 patients.